Goodbye, NL Central's longest-tenured current player

He may not be missed, even by his team's own fans, but Chicago's trading of Carlos Zambrano rids the NL Central of its longest-tenured current player, in terms of consecutive years spent within his current organization. Signing with the Cubs as an amateur free agent in July 1997, he had been within the Cubs organization for nearly 14.5 years, a full year and a half longer than any other current NL Central player has been with his respective team.

Replacing Zambrano as the man with this impressive, but ultimately unimportant title is Wandy Rodriguez, who signed as an amateur free agent with Houston in January 1999. Second on the list now becomes Chicago's Carlos Marmol, who signed as an amateur free agent in July 1999.

The Red's longest-tenured current players, Joey Votto and Ryan Hanigan, both acquired in 2002, rank 8th and 10th on the list.

* Only players listed on the teams' current 40-man rosters were considered. If acquired as a free agent or in a trade, signing date or trade date was used. If acquired by draft, draft date was used, with draft order serving as the tie-breaker.